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After starting my car cold, my friends at work tell me that i'm blowing a bit of white smoke while backing up out of the parking space and leaving the lot.

 

It's not like plumes and clouds of death or anything, just a bit of whiteness coming out of the exhaust and dissapaiting before i can see it in the rearview mirror.

 

I had my friend drive my car under the same conditions in which is smokes so that i could see this for myself, i can assure you, it's not water vapor.

 

Stats on the car: 108,000 miles - 1996 EJ22 - w/Glasspack - 5w30 oil from the garage well

 

 

any ideas? my mechanic buddy says that i pound on it too much and it's probably the heads....i hope not

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Does it go away when the car is warm? If so, it's probably not a problem. Is your drive in relatively short, meaning there might still be condensate in the exhaust system from the morning drive in?

 

Jack

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I may have similar problem, is there a small puff of smoke that goes for approx 5 - 7 seconds then it goes away, only occurs on cold starts?

 

I am buggered on that idea, I talked people about it and they said "oh its a boxer thing" other said, "rings on its way out" or "valve seals are on its way out" etc.... But I did a compression test on it, they're all average 165-170psi on EJ22 (maybe due worn dodgy gauge?)

 

One idea is that there is a leaky injector which leaks onto the valve/cylinder chamber (only one way is to take them to get ultrasonic clean)?

 

What does PCV Valve do? and what does it have to do with it?

 

The fuel is around average 24-26mpg - is that normal for EJ22 AWD 5MT sedan?.

 

Cheers

AP

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I may have similar problem, is there a small puff of smoke that goes for approx 5 - 7 seconds then it goes away, only occurs on cold starts?

 

I am buggered on that idea, I talked people about it and they said "oh its a boxer thing" other said, "rings on its way out" or "valve seals are on its way out" etc.... But I did a compression test on it, they're all average 165-170psi on EJ22 (maybe due worn dodgy gauge?)

 

One idea is that there is a leaky injector which leaks onto the valve/cylinder chamber (only one way is to take them to get ultrasonic clean)?

 

What does PCV Valve do? and what does it have to do with it?

 

The fuel is around average 24-26mpg - is that normal for EJ22 AWD 5MT sedan?.

 

Cheers

AP

 

 

i'm not sure how long it lasts....i'm never behind it

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Our MY95 does this smoke thing also. It comes out as a smallish jet stream of white about 6-10 inches out of the tailpipe. I noticed it about 3 or 4 years ago and at first thought it was oil smoke. The engine does't use any oil and the smoke disappears after less than 1 minute maximum. I figure it's a combination of cold engine and cold exaust components. The cats haven't had time to heat up and burn off whatever "smoke" is coming out. I use the term smoke loosely here, because I'm not convinced it isn't just water vapor from cold start combustion.

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All my Subes did (do) that. The exhaust systems rot from the inside out due to the design and the abilty to hold water.

 

I drive only 3 miles to work, so have gotten into the habit of driving up a steep hill to get the water right out because it's not long enough to dry out the inside. It leaves a trail of water... and there is white smoke. It's probably silly to do that because the water sits in the system all night rusting it to heck anyway <shrug>.

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Our MY95 does this smoke thing also. It comes out as a smallish jet stream of white about 6-10 inches out of the tailpipe. I noticed it about 3 or 4 years ago and at first thought it was oil smoke. The engine does't use any oil and the smoke disappears after less than 1 minute maximum. I figure it's a combination of cold engine and cold exaust components. The cats haven't had time to heat up and burn off whatever "smoke" is coming out. I use the term smoke loosely here, because I'm not convinced it isn't just water vapor from cold start combustion.

 

 

that's the most comparable description i've heard yet.

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